The Later Remake Part & WEAPON Fights

[X-SOLDIER]

I know that it's not caps'd, but it makes the title easier to distinguish the big gigantic Planet-protecting biomecha from swords and things.

The more I've been thinking about the next upcoming parts of the Remake, the more I've been thinking about Diamond, Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, & Ultimate Weapons, and about how with a vastly more in-depth look at the world, how different the post-Meteofall world is gonna feel. The sense of pushing back against impending doom is gonna hit every corner of the world, and I think that the Weapons are a really big part of selling that "impending apocalypse" from a gameplay perspective.

In the OG, Ruby & Emerald were extra content, but they're also essentially just extra boss battles, which are totally "simple" things for an oldschool JRPG to add in. In the Remake, every encounter with the Weapons is going to be a MONUMENTAL undertaking where you're running a boss fight against something the size of a skyscraper, which is a REALLY significant effort to have as just extra content. We'll see if any of the side missions and other things in the first part have anything massive to use as a comparison, but right now I feel like the effort required necessitates incorporating all of the Weapon encounters as a part of the story itself, even if you could technically leave Ruby & Emerald as optional fights like the OG did.

The other difficulty that that leaves is that you have to find ways to make those encounters really impressive, but also unique & I feel like they each have their own ways of achieving that:

• Sapphire Weapon is the sort of introductory Weapon encounter. This is one where you don't fight it directly, but it'd be interesting to see the full scope of what it takes in order to effectively take down one of the Weapons by "normal" means to set the tone.
• Diamond Weapon is literally a blockade against it coming to destroy Midgar. It's got the FFXV Kingsglaive feel to it, and I think that the idea that you're fighting to slow it down is works especially well because you've essentially got an invisible timer running. It'd also be neat to see what the hell happens with it, especially given what happens with Ultimate Weapon.
• Ultimate Weapon is the battle from the Highwind. You've gotta find ways to attack it effectively while in the air, and also chase it across the world to finally bring it down somewhere remote (Cosmo Canyon) when it plummets down and explodes.
• Emerald Weapon is taking the environmental complications from Ultimate and dialing them up because it's under water. This is why I think that it feels like it should be something built in to the game, because the logistics of taking it out are interesting enough, and all you need to do is tie it in to the Submarine section of the game, with the Gelnika, and Key in order to have a really compelling, horrifying section of the game with its own boss.
• Ruby Weapon has a surprisingly easy gimmick that still works. Given where he is, and that we know from the Scorpion Sentinel that grab mechanics exist, it's easy to just oust members of your party from the battle. Boil that fight down to an intense 1-on-1 by the time it's coming to its conclusion and it'll still feel unique and satisfying from all of the others.

Not just that, but the Remake's bossfights are really multi-part, in-game cinematics with combat events. I feel like these encounters deserve every bit of effort to make them shine, and the only way that they'll get that is by making them into something that all of the players will get to experience. Additionally, because the ending of the game involves the Lifestream itself intervening to save Midgar, it doesn't make sense for those Weapons to exist as post-game enemies (if you want an EX-Boss, I'd argue that a new version of Omega Weapon is a vastly more viable candidate). It's one of those things where I think that I wouldn't mind the idea of the final installment of the Remake just pitting literally EVERYTHING against Cloud & Co. so that the eventual confrontation against Jenova & Sephiroth can be built up to being just that much MORE crazy than all the things that they've done up until then to just show how they've pulled out all the stops, tossed in the kitchen sink, and gone every extra mile for the finale.

Obviously I've got my thoughts, but I am curious if anyone else has other thoughts, since this'll be something that won't be settled for AGES.




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[Makoeyes987]

Given the Remake's combat system that utilizes specific strategies to avoid potentially lethal attacks and focuses on methods to stagger enemies, the boss fights against these type of enemies would certainly be strategic and epic type boss fights.

For example, with Ruby Weapon, I imagine you'd have to strategize and ensure it's tentacles were constantly KO'd because if you didn't, they'd grab and permanently remove one of your characters by shoving them in a quicksand trap. And if you used certain high level magic or summons during the fight, Ruby Weapon becomes enraged, resets its stagger level, and counters with Ultima with 255 spell power to kill you

Emerald Weapon would be underwater so I'm not sure how they'd do that unless they made it to where the Underwater materia is the only way you even get a chance to confront it. From there it's literally an outright fight.

And Ultima Weapon would be a mix of fighting it mid-air and then fighting it in specific maps or even cities since you have to chase it.

The only thing I would be curious about is how big they make the enemies. I imagine they'd be massive.

 

[ForceStealer]

I think the Ultimate Weapon fights could take a page from FFX and Evrae where the airship itself was an element of the fight. Both from positioning and firing it's own weapons. (Cid's final limit implies the Highwind has missile batteries.)

 

[Cannon_Fodder]

I'm willing to be proven wrong, but I just can't imagine a boss fight against something as big as Weapon actually being fun. Those fights being a spectacle or impressive to behold seems like a guarantee. But mechanically interesting? I personally can't see it, in part because the only boss fights against massive enemies that I actually enjoy are the colossi from Shadow of the Colossus. And even those can be more frustrating than fun.